In the January 2015 Tax Justice Network Taxcast: how offshore is ruining the ‘Beautiful Game’ – the Taxcast scrutinises football’s own goal. Also: how banks with criminal convictions are being allowed to continue to handle our money and how people may be allowed to apply for anonymity in the UK’s new register of beneficial owners Read the Rest…

It would seem that almost uniquely the Guardian has reported yesterday’s televised open such on the OECD’s Base Erosion and Profit Shifting process in Paris that was dominated by what might best be called the fight back of the tech giants. As they report: Lobby groups representing Google, Amazon and other powerful US tech multinationals have Read the Rest…

It’s Davos time: the moment in the neoliberal calendar when he high priests of exploitation gather to celebrate their ability to pillage on behalf of the few. Which also means it’s that moment when the rhetoric of a world leader or two turns, with a token message, to the issue of tax. Two years ago Read the Rest…

There are those who think that devolving tax powers to individual parts of the UK will be economically beneficial. I do think that is possible if well designed devolved powers are put in place on appropriate taxes. That is an issue I will be addressing in The Joy of Tax (now due later this year: Read the Rest…

Law firm Pinsent Masons, who appear on occasion to double as HMRC’s PR agency, have been doing so digging into HMRC’s data on the yield from tax investigations. As they note as a result: HMRC recovered an additional £97 for every £1 spent on new staff for its large business compliance service last year. Units Read the Rest…

The IMF published this chart this afternoon: As they say, the idea that the unemployment consequences of the 2008 crash are over is not true: in the OECD it would appear that the impact remains real and will continue for some time. Outside the OECD that’s not the case. So, what’s the reason? Is the Read the Rest…

Over the last few years I have mentioned, every few months, that one of the real economic risks facing the UK has been deflation. I admit my thinking on this issue was influenced by two things. The first is that I have always – since the 1980s – seen some benefit to inflation. The second Read the Rest…

I have spent several hours discussing the NHS this weekend with someone who has known it quite well for more than a quarter of a century – my wife. She is a GP but spent rather longer than most in that part of the medical profession working as a hospital doctor before shifting direction. Hardly Read the Rest…